Chesham
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Chesham is a market town in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the fourth largest town in the county of Buckinghamshire, with a population of some 23,000 people (behind High Wycombe with 111,000 and Aylesbury with 63,000.) It is situated in the picturesque Chess Valley and surrounded by farmland, as well as being bordered on one side by Amersham and Chesham Bois. Despite once having a thriving set of industries (including beer, brushes, boots and watercress) these have declined, with only the brush and boot factories remaining and the town has become a largely commuter town.
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[edit] History
The first recorded reference to Chesham, or Cestreham, was in the will of Lady Elgiva, an Anglo-Saxon Queen. There is archaeological evidence of a Roman villa downstream at Latimer and the planting of grapevines near the Balks.
Chesham is mentioned in 1012 AD as Cæstæleshamm, which is Anglo-Saxon for "the river-meadow at the pile of stones". Contrary to popular belief, the town is not named after the river; rather, the river is named after the town.
Chesham formed an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894 and continued as such until the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect on April 1, 1974. Chesham became a civil parish with a town council, within the Chiltern district.
Chesham has appeared in some popular television series, including Inspector Morse and Midsomer Murders.
[edit] Pronunciation
The town name has two pronunciations, both of which can he heard in the town. The traditional pronunciation is "Chess-am" or "Chezz-um", however since World War II the pronunciation of "Chesh-am" has become more common and is now the usual pronunciation. This traditional pronunciation, which is used throughout the Chilterns and the Aylesbury Vale, reflects the perception that the town name is made up of the river name Chess followed by the suffix -ham. London Underground and the BBC usually use the new pronunciation of "Chesh-am". However by comparison with similarly spelt town names in the area Bisham in Berkshire is pronounced "Biss-am" and Cheshunt in Hertfordshire is pronounced "Chess-unt", whilst Amersham in Buckinghamshire is pronounced "A-mer-sham". Chesham, New Hampshire, USA is also pronounced "Chess-am".
[edit] Geography
The town is located in the Chess Valley, and the nearest places are Bovingdon, Bellingdon and Amersham. Further afield are Berkhamsted, High Wycombe and Hemel Hempstead. It is situated 25 miles (40 km) north west of central London.
The River Chess is a chalk-stream which rises from springs, along the Pednor Vale and the Vale, before flowing in a south easterly direction past Waterside and towards Latimer. From there it flows to the north of Chenies and on towards Rickmansworth after which it becomes a tributary of the River Colne. Historically the fertile land around the Chess, and the very clean water of the Chess itself, made it ideal for growing watercress and this industry flourished in Chesham in the Victorian era. Some watercress can still be found on the Chess. Today the River Chess is equally well known for trout fishing.
[edit] TV and mobile phone signals
Due to its position in a fold in the hill, TV and Radio reception in Chesham can be poor and the town now has its own TV mast. In the 1970s Chesham was one of the last towns in the south east to receive BBC2, and parts of it still cannot receive Channel 5. Houses taking their TV reception from the Chesham transmitter[1] have vertically polarised aerials, whilst those in a good enough position receive their signal from the Crystal Palace Transmitter in London with horizontally polarised aerials - they always could receive BBC2 (and indeed Channels 4 & 5). Digital terrestrial television coverage is patchy for much the same reason.
Mobile phones are often redundant in the steeper parts of Chesham and outlying villages - Vodafone currently plan to improve coverage, however Orange and O2 remain the most prevalent of network providers, with less primary ones (such as Fresh! and TalkTalk Mobile) 'piggybacking' on them to enable further coverage.
[edit] Politics
From 1950 to 1974 the town was part of South Buckinghamshire constituency; since boundary changes for the February 1974 general election it has been in the Chesham & Amersham constituency. Both constituencies have been solidly Conservative, and have never returned a non-Tory candidate.
The current MP is Cheryl Gillan. The Conservative Party won the constituency in the 2005 general election with roughly 50% of the vote; the next most popular party were the Liberal Democrats, represented by John Ford, with roughly 25% of the vote. Local turnout at the last election was 68%.
[edit] Newspaper
The local Chesham newspaper is the Bucks Examiner which has an office in Germain Street. Another popular paper that covers Chesham is the Bucks Free Press.[2]
[edit] Religion
The oldest Church building in Chesham is St Mary's Church which dates from the 12th century. Chesham has a long history of religious dissent, such as the persecuted Lollards, followers of the John Wycliffe tradition. One of them Thomas Harding was martyred on White Hill, near Dungrove Farm, in 1532. There is a memorial to local Lollards in Amersham. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the rapid growth of non-conformists especially Baptists. Broadway Baptist Church dates back to 1706 and had its 300th anniversary celebrations in Chesham in 2006.
In the present day, Chesham has three Baptist Churches (Broadway Baptist, Trinity Baptist and Newtown Baptist) and three Anglican Churches (St Mary's, Christ Church in Waterside and Emmanuel in Newtown). There is a United Reformed Church (URC), a Brethren Gospel Hall, a Roman Catholic Church, a Methodist Chapel, a Salvation Army Citadel, a Free Church (at Hiving's Hill) and a historic Quaker Meeting House. The Churches of Chesham work very well together in the Churches Together for Chesham (CTC) group. There are also churches in outlying villages of Chesham.
The post-war era saw the establishment of a sizable Muslim community. The first purpose-built mosque in the town was completed in 2005 with the head Imaam of the Chesham Mosque, Arif Hussain.
[edit] Demographics
92% of the town's population is classified as "white", with the other 8% being "non-white". Roughly 6% of the town's population is of Asian origin. There are also members of the community of Scottish, Italian and Polish origin. Recently large numbers of Hungarians, Czechs and Poles have come from the European Union.
- Roughly 55% of the town is within the ages of 20-59, while over-60s make up a further 20% and roughly another 25% is under 20.
- 85% of eligible people in the town own a car, and 41% use one to get to work.
- 80% in the town's population live in an urban area.
- 23% of those 16-74 have no formal qualifications.
- Unemployment is roughly 2%
[edit] Transport
Chesham's High Street was pedestrianised in 1990 - the benefits to the High Street have been felt ever since. Whilst some of the previous bustle has been lost, the impacts of pedestrianisation have generally been positive. Sunnyside Road was becoming a major traffic pinch point, but is now completely one way which has helped considerably.
The town has a tube station near the town centre, which is the last station on the spur off the Metropolitan Line, of the London Underground. The station originally would have linked to the LNWR at Berkhampstead, but the idea was abandoned as the Metropolitan Line reached Amersham and from thence Aylesbury. There were some sizeable goods yards beyond the station, which were closed and now function as Waitrose's car park except for one portion, which still functions as a coal merchants.
Up until recently, the station had two platforms; a short bay platform and a longer main platform (the one currently in use now). This arrangement allowed for far more frequent running of trains, as one train could wait at Chesham while the other went to Chalfont & Latimer (or possibly onwards to London). However, the bay platform closed, subsequently becoming an award winning garden, and now trains arrive every half-hour.
Since the abolition of London Underground services to Aylesbury in 1961 Chesham has been the furthest Tube station from central London in terms both of distance and of travelling time. The stretch between Chalfont & Latimer and Chesham is the longest stretch of Underground line not to contain a station.
To reach the station, most passengers need to change trains at Chalfont & Latimer and catch a shuttle train. At peak times, some trains run directly from London to Chesham and back again, made possible by switching work at Chalfont. The nearest National Rail station is in Amersham, although the LU line connects directly to Chalfont & Latimer station, which is also a National Rail station.
Arriva run several services running either through or to the town. Carousel Buses[3] have also started operating services in the town, some of them under contract from Buckinghamshire County Council.
The Bovingdon stack is directly above the town, and Luton airport is roughly 15 miles away.
[edit] Local areas
Local areas in and around Chesham include
[edit] Education
[edit] Primary Schools
- Elmtree First School
- Little Springs Primary School
- Ley Hill School
- Newtown Nursery Infant School
- Waterside Combined School
- Brushwood Junior School
- Thomas Harding Junior School (Named after the martyr Thomas Harding)
- Heritage House Special Needs School
[edit] Secondary schools
- Chesham Park Community College
- co-educational secondary modern school formed from the merger of Lowndes School and Cestreham School
- Chesham High School
- the co-eductional grammar school
[edit] Further education
Amersham & Wycombe College has a campus in the town, with the other nearest campus being in Amersham.
[edit] Sport & Recreation
Opposite the town centre is Lowndes Park, a large park with playgrounds and formerly an open air paddling pool. There is a large pond in the park, known as Skottowe's Pond. Lowndes Park was donated to the town of Chesham in 1953. Prior to this it was part of the garden that belonged to the Lowndes family.
The Elgiva Theatre is independent, and tends to show films some months after their original release date, along with hosting conventions and showing plays.
There are two swimming pools in the town: an open air pool in Waterside, and a roofed pool (and leisure centre) next to Chesham High School at the top of White Hill.
A small museum is to be found behind the Gamekeeper's Lodge Pub in Bellingdon Road[4].
[edit] Famous residents
- Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan, Labour politian and father of the National Health Service moved to Asheridge Farm in Chesham, where he died July 6 1960.
- Lewis Carrol is supposed to have based his "Mad Hatter" character from "Alice in Wonderland" on Theophilus Carter, who lived in what is now the Drawing Room cafe, in Francis Yard.
- Stephen Fry spent part of his childhood in Chesham, attending Chesham Prep School as detailed in his autobiography 'Moab is my Washpot'. He lived in Stanley Avenue.
- Thomas Harding A 16th century English religious dissident. He was from Chesham and was executed as a Lollard in 1532. He fought for the right to read the scriptures in English. He was accused of heresy and interrogated in Chesham parish church. He was found guilty and was burnt at the stake in 1532, at Chesham in the Pell, near Botely.
- D.H. Lawrence, (1885-1930) the novelist and poet rented a cottage at Cholesbury near Chesham, while he was working on "The Rainbow" from 1914-1915.
- Arthur Lasenby Liberty, founder of the famous Liberty store in London lived in a house next to the George & Dragon in the High Street.
- Earl Mountbatten of Burma used to stay, as a child, with his family for summer holidays in Germains House in Fullers Hill.
- Francis Wilson (meteorologist), the television weatherman used to live in Chesham.
[edit] Interesting facts
The following TV series & episodes were filmed in Chesham's Old Town and pedestrianised High Street:
- Inspector Morse (1987)
- Midsomer Murders (1997): The Axeman Cometh
- Midsomer Murders (1997): Written in Blood
Christmas Tree Farm,[5] is one of the largest suppliers of Christmas trees in the South East. They usually have a life size waving Father Christmas at their entrance during the Festive Season.
- The George & Dragon has remains of mediaeval wallpaintings upstairs and very old panelling downstairs.
- The King's Arms in King Street is noted for its ghosts including one known as "John Griffiths Evans", a local in the 1800s who has often been glimpsed near the big hearth.
- Chesham Library houses a special collection of Victorian children's books, the core collection having been owned by Florence Nightingale.
[edit] Town partnerships
Houilles, France since 1973
Friedrichsdorf, Germany since 1980
Emmanuel Church, Chesham is linked to a church in Prague, Czech Republic
[edit] External links
- Chesham Bois Lawn Tennis and Squash Club
- Chesham Camera Club
- Chesham Cricket Club
- The Chesham Elgiva
- Chesham High School
- Chesham Museum
- The Chesham Society
- Chesham Town Council
- Chesham United Football Club
- Thomas Harding
- Parish of Chesham
- The Woodware Turners of Chesham
